I. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a receptacle for holding food, and more particularly to a receptacle using ice to keep food chilled while the receptacle is in use.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Receptacles for holding food have long been known. Because of the perishable nature of some foods, ice or water has been employed in order to lower the temperature or maintain a lowered temperature of such foods while the receptacle was in use.
Some receptacles merely contained a layer of ice upon which the food was laid. Use of these receptacles had the undesirable result that food often became mixed with the ice, or with the water associated with ice upon melting and the food was thus less pleasing to eat. Also, food that intermixed with the ice or water was sometimes left uneaten, resulting in increased expense due to such waste.
Other food receptacles have nested one receptacle within another in order to keep the ice or water separated from the food. While these performed well functionally, the need for a second receptacle substantially increased the cost of providing a receptacle that kept food chilled, because of the cost of the second receptacle. The nested receptacle was often of more complex or expensive construction than that of the receiving receptacle.